SLAVE MODE PROTOCOL ------------------- The -slave option switches on slave mode, in which MPlayer works as a backend for other programs. Instead of intercepting keyboard events, MPlayer will read commands separated by a newline (\n) from stdin. To try slave mode out by hand, run mplayer -slave -quiet and type slave commands into the console window. You can also use a FIFO file (named pipe): mkfifo mplayer -slave -input file= Most slave mode commands are equivalent to command line options, though not necessarily under the same name. Detailed descriptions can be found in the man page. All commands can be prefixed with one of "pausing ", "pausing_keep ", or "pausing_toggle ". "pausing " tells MPlayer to pause as soon as possible after processing the command. "pausing_keep " tells MPlayer to do so only if it was already in paused mode. "pausing_toggle " tells MPlayer to do so only if it was not already in paused mode. Please note that "as soon as possible" can be before the command is fully executed. As a temporary hack, there is also the _experimental_ "pausing_keep_force " prefix, with which MPlayer will not exit the pause loop at all. Like this you can avoid the "frame stepping" effect of "pausing_keep " but most commands will either not work at all or behave in unexpected ways. For "set_mouse_pos" and "key_down_event", "pausing_keep_force" is the default since other values do not make much sense for them. Various tips and tricks (please help expand it!): - Try using something like pausing_keep_force pt_step 1 get_property pause to switch to the next file. It avoids audio playback starting to play the old file for a short time before switching to the new one. - To ensure the user can't control MPlayer "behind your back" use something like -input nodefault-bindings -noconfig all Available commands ('mplayer -input cmdlist' will print a list): af_add (comma separated list of audio filters with parameters) (experimental) Load the given list of audio filters. af_clr (experimental) Unload all loaded audio filters. af_cmdline (experimental) Send new command-line options to a filter with the given name. af_del (comma separated list of audio filter's names) (experimental) Unload the first occurrence of the filters, if loaded. af_switch (comma separated list of audio filters with parameters) (experimental) Remove all the audio filters and replace them with the given list. alt_src_step (ASX playlist only) When more than one source is available it selects the next/previous one. audio_delay [abs] Set/adjust the audio delay. If [abs] is not given or is zero, adjust the delay by seconds. If [abs] is nonzero, set the delay to seconds. [brightness|contrast|gamma|hue|saturation] [abs] Set/adjust video parameters. If [abs] is not given or is zero, modifies parameter by . If [abs] is non-zero, parameter is set to . is in the range [-100, 100]. capturing [value] Toggle/set capturing the primary stream like -dumpstream. Requires the -capture parameter to be given. change_rectangle Change the position of the rectangle filter rectangle. Must be one of the following: 0 = width 1 = height 2 = x position 3 = y position If is 0 or 1: Integer amount to add/subtract from the width/height. Positive values add to width/height and negative values subtract from it. If is 2 or 3: Relative integer amount by which to move the upper left rectangle corner. Positive values move the rectangle right/down and negative values move the rectangle left/up. dvb_set_channel Set DVB channel. dvdnav Press the given dvdnav button. up down left right menu select prev mouse edl_loadfile Load new EDL file. edl_mark Write the current position into the EDL file. frame_drop [value] Toggle/set frame dropping mode. get_audio_bitrate Print out the audio bitrate of the current file. get_audio_codec Print out the audio codec name of the current file. get_audio_samples Print out the audio frequency and number of channels of the current file. get_file_name Print out the name of the current file. get_meta_album Print out the 'Album' metadata of the current file. get_meta_artist Print out the 'Artist' metadata of the current file. get_meta_comment Print out the 'Comment' metadata of the current file. get_meta_genre Print out the 'Genre' metadata of the current file. get_meta_title Print out the 'Title' metadata of the current file. get_meta_track Print out the 'Track Number' metadata of the current file. get_meta_year Print out the 'Year' metadata of the current file. get_percent_pos Print out the current position in the file, as integer percentage [0-100). get_property Print out the current value of a property. get_sub_visibility Print out subtitle visibility (1 == on, 0 == off). get_time_length Print out the length of the current file in seconds. get_time_pos Print out the current position in the file in seconds, as float. get_vo_fullscreen Print out fullscreen status (1 == fullscreened, 0 == windowed). get_video_bitrate Print out the video bitrate of the current file. get_video_codec Print out the video codec name of the current file. get_video_resolution Print out the video resolution of the current file. gui Send GUI skin message . (See the skin documentation on GUI messages for details.) screenshot Take a screenshot. Requires the screenshot filter to be loaded. 0 Take a single screenshot. 1 Start/stop taking screenshot of each frame. key_down_event Inject key code event into MPlayer. loadfile Load the given file/URL, stopping playback of the current file/URL. If is nonzero playback continues and the file/URL is appended to the current playlist instead. loadlist Load the given playlist file, stopping playback of the current file. If is nonzero playback continues and the playlist file is appended to the current playlist instead. loop [abs] Adjust/set how many times the movie should be looped. -1 means no loop, and 0 forever. menu Execute an OSD menu command. up Move cursor up. down Move cursor down. ok Accept selection. cancel Cancel selection. hide Hide the OSD menu. set_menu Display the menu named . mute [value] Toggle sound output muting or set it to [value] when [value] >= 0 (1 == on, 0 == off). osd [level] Toggle OSD mode or set it to [level] when [level] >= 0. osd_show_progression Show the progression bar, the elapsed time and the total duration of the movie on the OSD. osd_show_property_text [duration] [level] Show an expanded property string on the OSD, see -playing-msg for a description of the available expansions. If [duration] is >= 0 the text is shown for [duration] ms. [level] sets the minimum OSD level needed for the message to be visible (default: 0 - always show). osd_show_text [duration] [level] Show on the OSD. panscan <-1.0 - 1.0> | <0.0 - 1.0> Increase or decrease the pan-and-scan range by , 1.0 is the maximum. Negative values decrease the pan-and-scan range. If is != 0, then the pan-and scan range is interpreted as an absolute range. pause Pause/unpause the playback. frame_step Play one frame, then pause again. pt_step [force] Go to the next/previous entry in the playtree. The sign of tells the direction. If no entry is available in the given direction it will do nothing unless [force] is non-zero. pt_up_step [force] Similar to pt_step but jumps to the next/previous entry in the parent list. Useful to break out of the inner loop in the playtree. quit [value] Quit MPlayer. The optional integer [value] is used as the return code for the mplayer process (default: 0). radio_set_channel Switch to . The 'channels' radio parameter needs to be set. radio_set_freq Set the radio tuner frequency. radio_step_channel <-1|1> Step forwards (1) or backwards (-1) in channel list. Works only when the 'channels' radio parameter was set. radio_step_freq Tune frequency by the (positive - up, negative - down). seek [type] Seek to some place in the movie. 0 is a relative seek of +/- seconds (default). 1 is a seek to % in the movie. 2 is a seek to an absolute position of seconds. seek_chapter [type] Seek to the start of a chapter. 0 is a relative seek of +/- chapters (default). 1 is a seek to chapter . switch_angle Switch to the angle with the ID [value]. Cycle through the available angles if [value] is omitted or negative. set_mouse_pos Tells MPlayer the coordinates of the mouse in the window. This command doesn't move the mouse! set_property Set a property. speed_incr Add to the current playback speed. speed_mult Multiply the current speed by . speed_set Set the speed to . step_property [value] [direction] Change a property by value, or increase by a default if value is not given or zero. The direction is reversed if direction is less than zero. stop Stop playback. sub_alignment [value] Toggle/set subtitle alignment. 0 top alignment 1 center alignment 2 bottom alignment sub_delay [abs] Adjust the subtitle delay by +/- seconds or set it to seconds when [abs] is nonzero. sub_load Loads subtitles from . sub_log Logs the current or last displayed subtitle together with filename and time information to ~/.mplayer/subtitle_log. Intended purpose is to allow convenient marking of bogus subtitles which need to be fixed while watching the movie. sub_pos [abs] Adjust/set subtitle position. sub_remove [value] If the [value] argument is present and non-negative, removes the subtitle file with index [value]. If the argument is omitted or negative, removes all subtitle files. sub_select [value] Display subtitle with index [value]. Turn subtitle display off if [value] is -1 or greater than the highest available subtitle index. Cycle through the available subtitles if [value] is omitted or less than -1 (forward or backward respectively). Supported subtitle sources are -sub options on the command line, VOBsubs, DVD subtitles, and Ogg and Matroska text streams. This command is mainly for cycling all subtitles, if you want to set a specific subtitle, use sub_file, sub_vob, or sub_demux. sub_source [source] Display first subtitle from [source]. Here [source] is an integer: SUB_SOURCE_SUBS (0) for file subs SUB_SOURCE_VOBSUB (1) for VOBsub files SUB_SOURCE_DEMUX (2) for subtitle embedded in the media file or DVD subs. If [source] is -1, will turn off subtitle display. If [value] is omitted or less than -1, will cycle between the first subtitle of each currently available source (forward or backward respectively). sub_file [value] Display subtitle specified by [value] for file subs. The [value] is corresponding to ID_FILE_SUB_ID values reported by '-identify'. If [value] is -1, will turn off subtitle display. If [value] is omitted or less than -1, will cycle all file subs (forward or backward respectively). sub_vob [value] Display subtitle specified by [value] for VOBsubs. The [value] is corresponding to ID_VOBSUB_ID values reported by '-identify'. If [value] is -1, will turn off subtitle display. If [value] is omitted or less than -1, will cycle all VOBsubs (forward or backward respectively). sub_demux [value] Display subtitle specified by [value] for subtitles from DVD or embedded in media file. The [value] is corresponding to ID_SUBTITLE_ID values reported by '-identify'. If [value] is -1, will turn off subtitle display. If [value] is omitted or less than -1, will cycle all DVD subs or embedded subs (forward or backward respectively). sub_scale [abs] Adjust the subtitle size by +/- or set it to when [abs] is nonzero. vobsub_lang This is a stub linked to sub_select for backwards compatibility. sub_step Step forward in the subtitle list by steps or backwards if is negative. sub_visibility [value] Toggle/set subtitle visibility. forced_subs_only [value] Toggle/set forced subtitles only. switch_audio [value] (currently MPEG*, AVI, Matroska and streams handled by libavformat) Switch to the audio track with the ID [value]. Cycle through the available tracks if [value] is omitted or negative. switch_angle [value] (DVDs only) Switch to the DVD angle with the ID [value]. Cycle through the available angles if [value] is omitted or negative. switch_ratio [value] Change aspect ratio at runtime. [value] is the new aspect ratio expressed as a float (e.g. 1.77778 for 16/9), or special value -1 to reset to original aspect ratio (ditto if [value] is missing), or special value 0 to disable automatic movie aspect ratio compensation. There might be problems with some video filters. switch_title [value] (DVDNAV only) Switch to the DVD title with the ID [value]. Cycle through the available titles if [value] is omitted or negative. switch_vsync [value] Toggle vsync (1 == on, 0 == off). If [value] is not provided, vsync status is inverted. teletext_add_digit Enter/leave teletext page number editing mode and append given digit to previously entered one. 0..9 - Append appropriate digit. (Enables editing mode if called from normal mode, and switches to normal mode when third digit is entered.) - - Delete last digit from page number. (Backspace emulation, works only in page number editing mode.) teletext_go_link <1-6> Follow given link on current teletext page. tv_start_scan Start automatic TV channel scanning. tv_step_channel Select next/previous TV channel. tv_step_norm Change TV norm. tv_step_chanlist Change channel list. tv_set_channel Set the current TV channel. tv_last_channel Set the current TV channel to the last one. tv_set_freq Set the TV tuner frequency. tv_step_freq Set the TV tuner frequency relative to current value. tv_set_norm Set the TV tuner norm (PAL, SECAM, NTSC, ...). tv_set_brightness <-100 - 100> [abs] Set TV tuner brightness or adjust it if [abs] is set to 0. tv_set_contrast <-100 -100> [abs] Set TV tuner contrast or adjust it if [abs] is set to 0. tv_set_hue <-100 - 100> [abs] Set TV tuner hue or adjust it if [abs] is set to 0. tv_set_saturation <-100 - 100> [abs] Set TV tuner saturation or adjust it if [abs] is set to 0. use_master Switch volume control between master and PCM. vo_border [value] Toggle/set borderless display. vo_fullscreen [value] Toggle/set fullscreen mode. vo_ontop [value] Toggle/set stay-on-top. vo_rootwin [value] Toggle/set playback on the root window. volume [abs] Increase/decrease volume or set it to if [abs] is nonzero. overlay_add Add an overlay bitmap. must be a PGM file without comments. is an arbitrary integer used to identify the overlay. overlay_remove Remove all overlays identified by . The following commands are really only useful for OSD menu console mode: help Displays help text, currently empty. exit Exits from OSD menu console. Unlike 'quit', does not quit MPlayer. hide Hides the OSD menu console. Clicking a menu command unhides it. Other keybindings act as usual. run Run with properties expanded as shell command. In OSD menu console mode stdout and stdin are through the video output driver. Property expansion happens in the same way as for osd_show_property_text. Note: MPlayer will do property expansion on anything of the form ${somevar} before it is passed to the shell. This means that you cannot use this syntax for anything you actually want the shell to handle, though any other form like $somevar will be passed on to and processed by the shell. Example: run "echo ${filename} ${stream_pos} >> " Available properties: name type min max get set step comment ================================================================= osdlevel int 0 3 X X X as -osdlevel speed float 0.01 100 X X X as -speed loop int -1 X X X as -loop pause flag 0 1 X 1 if paused, use with pausing_keep_force filename string X file playing w/o path path string X file playing demuxer string X demuxer used stream_pos pos 0 X X position in stream stream_start pos 0 X start pos in stream stream_end pos 0 X end pos in stream stream_length pos 0 X (end - start) stream_time_pos time 0 X present position in stream (in seconds) titles int X number of titles chapter int 0 X X X select chapter chapters int X number of chapters angle int 0 X X X select angle length time X length of file in seconds percent_pos int 0 100 X X X position in percent time_pos time 0 X X X position in seconds metadata str list X list of metadata key/value metadata/* string X metadata values volume float 0 100 X X X change volume balance float -1 1 X X X change audio balance mute flag 0 1 X X X audio_delay float -100 100 X X X audio_format int X audio_codec string X audio_bitrate int X samplerate int X channels int X switch_audio int -2 255 X X X select audio stream switch_angle int -2 255 X X X select DVD angle switch_title int -2 255 X X X select DVD title capturing flag 0 1 X X X dump primary stream if enabled fullscreen flag 0 1 X X X deinterlace flag 0 1 X X X ontop flag 0 1 X X X rootwin flag 0 1 X X X border flag 0 1 X X X framedropping int 0 2 X X X 1 = soft, 2 = hard gamma int -100 100 X X X brightness int -100 100 X X X contrast int -100 100 X X X saturation int -100 100 X X X hue int -100 100 X X X panscan float 0 1 X X X vsync flag 0 1 X X X video_format int X video_codec string X video_bitrate int X width int X "display" width height int X "display" height fps float X aspect float X switch_video int -2 255 X X X select video stream switch_program int -1 65535 X X X (see TAB default keybinding) sub int -1 X X X select subtitle stream sub_source int -1 2 X X X select subtitle source sub_file int -1 X X X select file subtitles sub_vob int -1 X X X select VOBsubs sub_demux int -1 X X X select subs from demux sub_delay float X X X sub_pos int 0 100 X X X subtitle position sub_alignment int 0 2 X X X subtitle alignment sub_visibility flag 0 1 X X X show/hide subtitles sub_forced_only flag 0 1 X X X sub_scale float 0 100 X X X subtitles font size tv_brightness int -100 100 X X X tv_contrast int -100 100 X X X tv_saturation int -100 100 X X X tv_hue int -100 100 X X X teletext_page int 0 799 X X X teletext_subpage int 0 64 X X X teletext_mode flag 0 1 X X X 0 - off, 1 - on teletext_format int 0 3 X X X 0 - opaque, 1 - transparent, 2 - opaque inverted, 3 - transparency inverted, teletext_half_page int 0 2 X X X 0 - off, 1 - top half, 2- bottom half